The Inbetweener: Moving internally to a new job function could kill your career

If you say you love your job all the time, you are probably lying. Anyone who has had a career longer than five minutes would have had a bad week or two at one stage – even a bad month (word of advice: if it’s been a bad quarter or a year, it’s probably time to get a new role). But if you do decide that your job isn’t for you, is it best to change departments within the same company or start anew with another firm?

I recently worked with a girl who changed roles within the same firm, moving from audit to general business services. Her reason was simple: she wanted more work-life balance; her hours were affecting her relationship. Initially she thought it was a great decision – she was confident that she was taking control of her life. But then she was overlooked for promotion in her new position.

She didn’t know that others had concluded that she couldn’t cut it and had quit audit at too young an age. And, they said, her partner was holding back her career. Result: it didn’t work out in her favour. She realised this only when she was up for a promotion and didn’t even get a look-in. She quit soon after: the ongoing embarrassment was too much.

A big break is best

At the same time, another guy at my firm didn’t like working in tax and also wanted to move into business services. He changed firms to do this and no one was the wiser. He is now very happy in his new job.

The experience of my former colleagues makes me ask this question: if you realise your current role isn’t for you and you want a significant career change, is it wise to move sideways, or even backwards, internally? I am not yet persuaded it is a good choice; what happened to the girl at my work was terrible. But are good outcomes also possible?

I think the main thing she did wrong was going for what seemed a less demanding job; it gave others the impression that she didn’t want to work hard. Perhaps if she had argued that she wanted to further her career and gain more diverse work experience, it would have worked out better for her.

The Inbetweener is an Australian financial professional. The views expressed are hers and not those of eFinancialCareers.

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